What I Learned in History of Magic
by Whisper Gypsy
Summary: James spent much of his time at Hogwarts learning how to prank, learning everything he could about one Lily Evans, and learning anything that might win her over to him. But some days, he learned other things too.
1. Chapter 1

Title: What I learned in History of Magic

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A/N: Inspired by conversation with RosesAreForever23 following her review to SOB: Padfoot's Album. Hope you enjoy it, love!

Disclaimer: But if I feed and water and walk them, can I keep them, Mommy, pleeeeeeeaaase?

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James twirled his quill between his thumb and middle finger, dribbling purple ink across his parchment sheet. It's not as though anyone really paid attention to Professor Binns. That ghost would keep lecturing to no one if the school burned down—not that it ever would.

He glanced up towards the front of the class where she was. There. Lily.

He sighed. He didn't care how heartsick he looked, because Lily was worth anything.

He would work his hardest to win her over. But it would be a while. And then one day, they would get married, and…

"_Daddy! Daddy! Ewan's chasing me!"_

"_Moira get off that broom! It's too big for you!"_

_A little girl, only two years old ambled through the mess of her siblings and pulled herself up onto her father's lap. She grinned up at him, cherub cheeks pulling apart to expose a three-toothed smile. "Da," her little voice sang, "Mama wan's da."_

He smiled down at the little girl he could practically see on his knee.

"_Love oo, da," his littlest girl gurgled to him._

_The children moved and grew before his eyes, morphing from tots and children to teens and adults. The little girl on his knee was a seventh year now, wearing gold and scarlet trimmings on her Hogwarts robes. "Dad, my boyfriend's waiting downstairs to meet you. Please don't kill him."_

_She moved up from his lap and turned and walked through the door, tossing a parting, "I love him," over her shoulder._

James clenched his fists. "NO!" he shouted.

Heads swiveled in the classroom to stare at him open-mouthed. Unperturbed, Binns continued with his lesson as though the inattention of his students was immaterial to his teaching. And really, it was.

James dropped his quill to the floor and blushed a wine-red all the way down to his toes. "Erm," he whispered, and buried his face into his hands, trying to hide from the room full of judgmental stares. After a long series of breaths, he peeked up between his fingers. Most of the class was looking around the room, as though waiting for a prank to kick off, but Lily's eyes were focused completely on him.

On him.

He grinned.

And then Sirius yelled, "DUNGBOMBS AWAY!"

In the chaos of students ducking under their desks for cover, James never looked away from Lily. And she never looked away from him.

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E/N: SO, thinking to keep this as a oneshot, but maybe more? Review!


	2. Chapter 2

Title: What I Learned in History of Magic

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A/N: Well, here it finally is! I decided to post a few more chapters for this, before wrapping it up! I hope you all enjoy this. Wish me luck: Friday morning I have a paper due and a presentation with my lab partner. (almost done!) And then a class on Saturday, a seven page paper due Monday, and two finals before I graduate. Almost free! (breathe). Aside: the opinions expressed within this fic are not my own. I LOVE history, but James, it appears, does not.

Disclaimer: Of course it's mine? Why else would it be on my account?

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James sighed. He was never going to live down last week was he? Not that anyone but Sirius knew he hadn't been signaling for the onslaught of dung bombs, but Sirius could worry a thing to death. Probably came from being part dog.

James stretched a bit in his seat, ignoring the stink eye Remus was giving him for ignoring Binns again. It's not as if the dead professor had anything important to say! Why should he bother listening to a boffish ghost, hmm?

Sigh. History was dull. It was all dead people from dead places doing dead things and taught by a dead professor. James wanted to be out living. Flying his broom as fast as it would go. Convincing Lily to marry him. Pranking Sirius while they pranked everyone else. Eating all the sugar quills he could get his hands on. Living.

Sigh.

James shifted in his seat again, moving so he couldn't see Remus' judging eyes. Unfortunately, this aligned him perfectly with Sirius' suspicious line of sight. Great.

Sigh.

James pulled his scrap of parchment back and forth across his desk before he set his ink-bleeding quill over it. The black drops seeped into the parchment, flooding the grooves and lines with a spider webbing of veins. James began writing the names he recalled from his earlier day dreams:

_Ewan._

_Moira._

... He couldn't remember any other names. What had been that precious angel's name?

_Rosie._

Before he continued with the list he began to write across the top of his page: _Names for My Children with Lily_.

He tapped his quill a few times before he could bring another daughter's face to mind. That lovely was his little...

_Clara._

He mulled once more and saw two more boys in his mind's eye:

_Charlus._

And... hmm, what to name the last one? The oldest one, really.

"Psst, Moony." Remus stoically ignored him, the great git. "Moooooooooneeeeeeeee."

"No."

"Pleeease?"

"No."

"I'll give you all my Honeyduke's chocolate.'

"..."

"And buy you another five pounds next Hogsmeade visit."

"What is it, James?"

"I need a name for my son."

Remus' head jolted up and slammed around to look at James. "WHAT?"

The students turned to watch the Marauders once again, allowing Binns to prattle on to himself. Lily, seated right in front of Remus, spun around and gave the werewolf a worried look. "What is it, Remus?"

James stared at Lily, smiling with that goofy, love drunk grin Sirius often said he got whenever Lily started talking.

Remus snorted. "James was asking me something crazy. Nothing's going to happen, at least not in class today. I promise."

Students turned back to their papers, somewhat disappointed. Lily kept her gaze focused on the two Gryffindors, curiously. "What was his question," she whispered.

Remus rolled his eyes. "He asked me about a name for... for a boy. Wanted to know my favorite name, I guess."

"Oh." Lily's brow furrowed, glancing over at James in doubt. "Huh. You guys are weird, you know that, right?"

Remus nodded with a sigh. "Yep."

James had been choking on his tongue, trying to say something to Lily, and now his tongue had finally untangled itself. "What names do you like, Lily?" He got shivers when he said her name. And honest-to-Merlin goosepimples.

The redhead cocked her head to the side thinking. "Hmm. For a guy? Harry, I guess." She turned back around then and dutifully began taking notes from Binns' lecture on the Third Goblin War of the 17th century.

James grinned, a bit dazed and lost in thought. It took a few minutes, but after he shook himself from his "Lily-stupor" his quill scratched across his parchment.

_Harry._

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E/N: Awwww, so sweet! So, how'd y'all like it? Just review!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: A huge shout-out to every reviewer/follower/favoriter/reader of this fic. Most of the people reviewing this follow me, no matter the fic, and that is an incredible feeling!

Disclaimer: So not mine, no matter what I try. Hypnosis, bribery, theft... meh. Denial is my last option.

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Dedication: I'm dedicating this update in honor of my Nana. She passed away eight years ago today. I love you. For the next little while, my profile image will be a picture of the two of us. Thanks.

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James twiddled his thumbs as he sat in his desk, eyes following the fair hand with three freckles as it dutifully transcribed their notes. James glanced up from her hand to her face, hoping Lily might glance over at him, but she never did. There were little drops of water in her hair-drying snow from the morning's storm. it looked like a crown on her flaming hair.

Or maybe a veil.

Yeah, a wedding veil. And he transfigured her school robes into the most magnificent white wedding dress, cut in a medieval style, painting her as his princess.

Or maybe she'd look better in a Grecain goddess style dress... James spent the rest of the class designing the perfect wedding dress for her. And then he saw it. It was made of goassamer as light as a butterfly's wing and floated around her like a cloud. She was smiling at him, a bouquet of poppies in her hands.

"I do..." James sighed, caught up in the lovely jewels that were his wife's eyes. His wife...

"Mr. Potter!" James jumped and nearly toppled from his seat at McGonagall's raised voice. "What is the meaning of this?"

A very shaken James looked around at his classmates in confusion.

There.

There at the front of the classroom, hands planted in fists on her hips, stood Lily.

Holding a red poppy bouquet. Wearing a crytstal-dotted veil. Wearing a white wedding dress.

But the wedding dress was not beautiful. It was a patchwork dress, made of several different designs. There was a Cinderella skirt, and a corset, and a pair of wings, and train with crystals on it. "Erm," James croaked.

"James Charlus Potter,if you do not put my clothes back to rights this very instant, I'll-"

"Finite Incantatem," James hastily cast the counterspell and ran out of the classroom, leaving his bewildered classmates behind.

_She had looked so beautiful, with her eyes all fiery, that veil... even the mess of a dress..._

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E/N: So, thoughts?


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Only one more chapter after this! I promise most of you will love it. The rest of you are in denial. :) Sorry for the delay in updating. Wasn't really myself, but back together and set straight again. Hope y'all enjoy!

Disclaimer: So there.

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James sighed. He pulled the parchment closer to him, shielding it from Remus' concerned stares. It's not as if the paper had _James and Lily Potter. Lily Potter. Lily Potter. LP Lily. Lily Potter. Lils._ Looped across it. Well, it did, but that's not what he was writing now. That had already been there. So there.

James furrowed his brow and concentrated on the shape of it. It had to be perfect for her. How many carats would she want? How many kids? James sighed again… Did giving a girl a four carat engagement ring meant you wanted four kids? Or was it two carats per child… He'd never really listened to that kind of thing, and it was never one of the problems on his Arithmancy homework. Those were usually_, A warlock in Dunhollow is flooing though the London area at 7 pm, a Hogwarts house elf will pop down to do the laundry, a Hogsmeade resident is apparating to Diagon alley, and the one-eyed witch from Warple is flying on her broomstick to watch the sunset on the Chanel. What time will they all arrive at St. Mungo's to be unspliched from each other?_ BORING.

James sighed, and turned his head from his rudimentary sketch of an engagement stone to look at Lily. Her brow was furrowed as she jotted down notes and referenced the text during Binns' lecture. Her tongue was sticking out, just a bit, from the corner of her mouth. How adorable. He could see her mind working furiously to store all the information, unraveling all the unasked questions rattling about in there. She'd want a bunch of kids like he did, right? Seven was enough for their own Quidditch team. He could convince her to have seven, right? They had to. He'd named them all already, hadn't he?

Lily's eyes were very green. Like the brightest days of September, during the first Quidditch match of the year, as the wind went whizzing about, and the players all laughed in sheer glee. Her eyes were better than Quidditch though. He sighed, and stared at her, just content to be near her. She turned to him, a smile on her face, but it was a bit wonky. Like she was really scared and hurt, but excited and eager at the same time. "What's happened?"

"James, it's time." James glanced down, and sure enough, Lily's black robes billowed out around an enormous baby belly. As if to remind him, she grimaced and bent a bit, hands coming to press on the great round… baby? Time? Time! Oh, Merlin…

"NOBODY PANIC!" James shouted. "I know what to do!"

"Um, mate?" Sirius asked.

James blinked. He, Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Lily were alone in the classroom. Lily rolled her eyes. "Of course you know what to do, you tosser. I told you. It's time. The bell rang. Classes are over. We're supposed to leave the classroom when that happens. We've done that every time the bell rings for the past seven years. It hasn't changed." She rolled her eyes. "Meet you in the library to study, Remus. Have fun with this one."

And Lily, his beautiful Lily, his not-really-full-of-impending-life Lily, walked out of the nearly empty classroom, red hair swishing behind her.

James slumped into his seat. "Pads," he croaked. "Kill me next time, alright?"

Sirius raised his arm in a solemn salute. "Aye, sir."

Remus chuckled and pulled James up from his chair. "So, Prongs. What was it this time?"

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E/N: Short, sweet, and nearly done. Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Last chapter! But it was a fun little run! Hope you've all enjoyed it, as it was. Please review!

Disclaimer: Not really.

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History of Magic. Again. But, on the plus side, it was Halloween. Pumpkin juice, spiked, was a guarantee in the Common Room at all hours. And then there was the hordes of candy Sirius seemed to have stashed in every possible, and several impossible, places all over the Gryffindor Tower, Great Hall, Quidditch Pitch, kitchens, seventh floor, third floor, Astronomy Tower, Shrieking Shack... Come to think of it, there was candy literally littering the grounds of Hogwarts. Where had Sirius found it all?

Lily sighed. It was like an angel sighing. Cor, I really sound like a poofter. But, it's true.

"James." When she says my name it's like… music. Like the most perfect, beautiful, sad song I've ever heard. "James." Or maybe like a river, tumbling over rocks, splashing each of them and making them softer. "JAMES!"

Oh. "Yeah, Lils?"

"Um. Well, I didn't mean to shout, but you were just kind of… woolgathering. Anyway, I wanted to ask you who you were going to Hogsmeade with."

"Hum? Probably just Sirius and Peter. Remus is feeling under the weather."

"I see. So you don't want to go with me?"

I think I'm supposed to be breathing, but it's not working. It's like my brain has switched the control for breathing with the ones for blinking. Everytime I try to breathe I blink. So I blink a lot. And don't breathe. I'm an idiot, and I think, _well then blink, damnit!_ and I'm breathing again. "Err… You're asking me to Hogsmeade? Like as your date? You want to go on a date with me?"

"Yes."

"Bloody hell."

Lily moved forward, biting her lower lip in concern. "Oh. Do you need to sit down? You've gone all white."

"No. I . You," James stammered. "I've asked you a thousand times, and you always said no. I've loved you for years and just pfft! Nothing. Then, today, just, bam. What?"

"I didn't want you to keep chasing after me. As a matter of fact, I like to do the chasing. Problem?"

Bloody hell, no! Lily Evans wanted to chase me? Ask me out? Ask to marry me? Dominate our relationship? Our relationship? Lily dominating me… Bloody hell. "Erm. No. No. So does this mean, that with… like… What?"

She smiled at me. "James Bloody Potter, will you go out with—oh! Catch him, Sirius!"

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E/N: so this is the end, my ducks. Hope you liked it! Please review…


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